Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-07-29
An Unsupplied Demand for Men

Inc opening OF the season at the sea-
side and mountain resorts again renews
the complaint that has become chronic
of late years. of the scarcity of men.
Ladies are more numerous than ever,
many of them young. beautiful, accom-
plished. wealthy. Even such attractions
do not draw the men; they still con-
tinue the stubbornest kind OF absentees.
They are become pleasing reminis.
cence; tradition almost as fabulous as
the centaur and the I'm corn and almost
~ extinct rs the dodo. They are a de-
lightful recollection; for, though their
voices were harsh, their movements
somewhat awkward and heavy, an d
their taste, in matters of silk and rob-
bon. insuiierably barbarous, yet. like
Byron's ocean, they were pleasing
terror" and had good points" about
them after all So, here at the noun
tain and seacoast, is a phenomenon that
economists might do well to examine
a demand without a supply; an ungrat-
flied desire for that obsolescent genus
man.
1t seems in many ways men are
ignorant of their true market values.
There has grown up a complaint dur
ing the last few years that men do
not go into society. The vrile, brainy
man of originality and achievement,
such as women admire and respect, is
seldom seen at parties and S0treeS and
teas. The antipathy of the average
man to fashionable weddings is we'll
known. In short, the average man is
careless of social conventionaltics, and
is apt to be shy of all elaborate society
displays. In his confidential mood he
confesses that he does not feel at h ONE
amid such surroundings. Women are
punctilious as to social requirements.
but they are growing tired of the soci-
ty of dudes and the perfumed mascu-
line exquisites who frequent the resort s
of fashion and society. They are not men.
they not are women; they are merely
non-descript exped ents arrayed in a
Another fact that has been frequent
ly commented upon is the relatively
small number of men VIII o attend
church. Probably thr ee-fourths of the
average Sunday congregation is femn-
inc. Go in almost any church, and
you will see but few men. You will
see an occasional masculine head half
hidden amid the towering luxuriance
of millinery; but it is in lonesome
minority
So it seems pertinent TO inquire the
cause of this paucity of the masculine
element in our social. recreational and
religious life. The census tells Us that
there is but a small percentage OF
women born in excess of men. Are
men becoming hermits or dying off?
1t is sensible to infer that men are
not found in socict;, at the summer
resort or at the church, because the V
DO not find what they really need in
those places. Recreation at the sea-
shore for two or three months in the
summer is dawdling and wastefu ex-
penditure of time that no man, not
given TO intellectual sluggshneSs, can
tolerate. Society does not interest the
average man, because it is not really
helpful to him mentally or, IN the
highest sense of the word. soc ally. 1t
is too superficial much a matter
of sits, formal ty and etiquitte TO take
any hold upon serious nature. Men
absent themselves from church because
the church. in many cases, does not
meet the needs Of the modern man.
He is ust as religious as ever, and, in
spite of the wal OF the pessimist, is
far more moral. But there are new
forces and theories in the modern in
telectual world VIII ch many of the
churches ignore; theories and forces
VIII ch arouse doubt and questions
which the old sermon does not
answer.
In the last quarter century there
have been vast strides in the scientific
and phlosoph department of thought.
VIII ch profoundly stirred the keenest
and best minds of the world-new
theories aud ideas which impinge upon
the domain of the theologian, but
which the average clergyman either
studiously ignores. or treats with i'll
disguised contempt, But these theories
are in the world. and have secured a
lodgment in mems minds. If they
cannot hear them discussed in church,
the proper arena for their discuss on,
they do not care to 90. Possibly
they may be all wrong in this matter;
and possibly there may be some vestige
of reason in their action. Boston
Globe
To Abolish Poverty.
1t was long ago clearly and unques-